It has been four months since the arrest in Napa of Roberta Riconoscuito on a three-year-old State of Washington warrant for custodial interference. Riconoscuito was arrested on the eve of her husband's testimony to a specially convened Federal Grand Jury in Chicago investigating the Inslaw case. She was originally held without bail. Three of her four children were shipped off to their father without a formal court hearing.

On nearly a weekly basis, Riconoscuito appeared in Napa courts attempting to prevent her extradition to the State of Washington. It was in Mason County, Washington, that Riconoscuito testified in a child molestation scandal that saw the arrest of a member of the Sheriff's Department, the head of the County Republicans, and members of the court system. These individuals were closely associated with her ex-husband. Riconoscuito also testified to a Riverside County (California) Grand Jury on the murder of a Cabazon Indian leader and two of his friends in execution style. The key suspect in that murder was her ex-husband's lifelong friend.

The procedures that the Napa court system had to apply to the case including a hearing identifying Riconoscuito as Roberta Peterson, her name when married in Mason County, Washington; and then a wait for the Governor of California to issue a warrant for her extradition. The long wait for the Governor's extradition order ended this week, it was issued. Under the warrant Riconoscuito should have been jailed immediately pending being transferred to the State of Washington. But Riconoscuito is still free today, and the Napa County District Attorney's Office is not very happy about it.

Riconoscuito filed a petition in the United States District Court for the Northern California District. Riconoscuito's court action was to remove her case from the local courts and transfer it to federal jurisdiction. Riconoscuito cited 28 USC ¤ 1441, which states, "Except as otherwise expressly provided by Act of Congress, any civil action brought in a State court of which the district court of the United States have original jurisdiction, may be removed by the defendant or the defendants, to the district court of the United States..." The law states that the Federal District Court "acquires jurisdiction as of the time of the filing of the petition in the federal court."

Riconoscuito states in her federal court document that her ex-husband, Steven Peterson "was involved in criminal activity, including, but not limited to, sexual abuse and the conspiracy to murder Fred Alvarez, a member of the Cabazon Indian Nation in Indio, California. That Riconoscuito was seeking to enter the California Witness Protection Program because (of) her willingness to testify about the criminal activity of Peterson." The petition also alleges that Peterson beat Riconoscuito while she was pregnant, which had nearly caused a miscarriage and her own death, supported by separate affidavits. When Riconoscuito was providing such testimony in the past, she sought to have the affidavit sealed and made her allegation in camera (closed session) out of fear for her life and that the Mason County authories placed her life in jeopardy by putting the affidavit into the public record.

The three year old warrant is based on an action taken when the courts gave custody of the children to the father without notifying Riconoscuito, she had already fled after the beating. The custody order was set aside, however. So another order was issued, this time not only providing the ex-husband with custody but also assigning real estate and insurance entitlements to her ex-husband.

Riconoscuito is claiming there is no valid warrant. On April 7, 1989, Riconoscuito's ex-husband stated he did not want custody of the children. Riconoscuito is charging that her arrest was a method to intimidate her present husband, Michael Riconoscuito. Michael Riconoscuito was scheduled to testify on November 18, 1992, before the Federal Grand Jury impaneled to investigate the Inslaw case. Roberta Riconoscuito was arrested in Napa on November 17, she had been residing here for nearly a year and her children were enrolled in local schools.

Riconoscuito is asking the Federal Court to grant a temporary restraining order against the extradition proceedings and release of her from any and all restrictions imposed on her liberty by State officials.

The Federal Grand Jury in Chicago is sitting on two sealed indictments, awaiting instructions from the newly sworn in U.S. Attorney Janet Reno. The House Judiciary Committee, headed by Congressman Jack Brooks of Texas, has issued a preliminary report on the Inslaw case, and is withholding the final report. He has sought legislation to have Congress authorize the creation of a special prosecutor in the Inslaw case, at which time he is expected to turn over evidence and the report.

Brooks would not be seeking a special prosecutor unless he felt there was sufficient evidence of criminal action on the part of the U.S. Justice Department in the Inslaw case. Michael Riconoscuito's affidavit on the Inslaw case appears in the Congressional report and he was called to testify before the Grand Jury as well, his wife's arrest in Napa caused him to refuse to testify until she was safe.

On Monday, the Napa court will decide whether or not they have lost control of the case, though under federal regulations, the local court may not have the jurisdiction to make that decision in the first place.

The long ordeal in Napa has ended and a new one begins in Mason County, Washington for Roberta Riconoscuito. This week Riconoscuito was sent back to Napa County Jail awaiting extradition to the State of Washington. But there is still a possibility of Federal intervention.

Despite the fact that Riconoscuito had sought the protection of the Federal court system, the Napa courts ruled that despite legal rulings, it was not bound to vacate her case. Ironically, Riconoscuito was jailed one week before a Federal court was to hear her petition to take over jurisdiction of the case.

Riconoscuito is asking the Federal Court to grant a temporary restraining order against the extradition proceedings and release her from any and all restrictions imposed on her liberty by State officials. However, by mid-week a Writ of Habeas Corpus had been filed in the U.S. District Court in San Francisco. The Writ seeks the immediate release of Riconoscuito and a transferring of the case from State court to Federal court.

The Writ charges that the Mason County arrest warrant was in "retaliation for her willingness to testify against certain criminal activity in which State (of Washington) officials were involved.

It has been four months since the arrest in Napa of Riconoscuito on a three-year-old State of Washington warrant for custodial interference. Riconoscuito was arrested on the eve of her husband's testimony to a specially convened Federal Grand Jury in Chicago investigating the Inslaw case. She was originally held without bail. Three of her four children were shipped off to their father without a formal court hearing.

On nearly a weekly basis, Riconoscuito appeared in Napa courts attempting to prevent her extradition to the State of Washington. It was in Mason County, Washington, that Riconoscuito testified in a child molestation scandal that saw the arrest of a member of the Sheriff's Department, the head of the County Republicans, and members of the court system. These individuals were closely associated with her ex-husband. Riconoscuito also testified to a Riverside County (California) Grand Jury on the murder of a Cabazon Indian leader and two of his friends in execution style. The key suspect in that murder was her ex-husband's lifelong friend.

The procedures that the Napa court system had to apply to the case included a hearing identifying Riconoscuito as Roberta Peterson, her name when married in Mason County, Washington; and then a wait for the Governor of California to issue a warrant for her extradition. The long wait for the Governor's extradition order ended this week, it was issued. Under the warrant Riconoscuito should have been jailed immediately pending being transferred to the State of Washington. But the Napa court allowed Riconoscuito free for another week until the Napa County District Attorney's Office could prove to the court that Riconoscuito's case should remain in the jurisdiction of Napa and the State court system.

Riconoscuito filed a petition in the United States District Court for the Northern California District. Riconoscuito's court action was to remove her case from the local courts and transfer it to federal jurisdiction. Riconoscuito cited 28 USC ¤ 1441, which states, "Except as otherwise expressly provided by Act of Congress, any civil action brought in a State court of which the district court of the United States have original jurisdiction, may be removed by the defendant or the defendants, to the district court of the United States..." The law states that the Federal District Court "acquires jurisdiction as of the time of the filing of the petition in the federal court."

Riconoscuito states in her federal court document that her ex-husband, Steven Peterson "was involved in criminal activity, including, but not limited to, sexual abuse and the conspiracy to murder Fred Alvarez, a member of the Cabazon Indian Nation in Indio, California. That Riconoscuito was seeking to enter the California Witness Protection Program because (of) her willingness to testify about the criminal activity of Peterson." The petition also alleges that Peterson beat Riconoscuito while she was pregnant, which had nearly caused a miscarriage and her own death, supported by separate affidavits. When Riconoscuito was providing such testimony in the past, she sought to have the affidavit sealed and made her allegation in camera (closed session) out of fear for her life and that the Mason County authorities placed her life in jeopardy by putting the affidavit into the public record.

The three year old warrant is based on an action taken when the courts gave custody of the children to the father without notifying Riconoscuito, she had already fled after the beating. The custody order was set aside, however. So another order was issued, this time not only providing the ex-husband with custody but also assigning real estate and insurance entitlements to her ex-husband.

Riconoscuito is claiming there is no valid warrant. On April 7, 1989, Riconoscuito's ex-husband stated he did not want custody of the children. Riconoscuito is charging that her arrest was a method to intimidate her present husband, Michael Riconoscuito. Michael Riconoscuito was scheduled to testify on November 18, 1992, before the Federal Grand Jury impaneled to investigate the Inslaw case. Roberta Riconoscuito was arrested in Napa on November 17, she had been residing here for nearly a year and her children were enrolled in local schools.

Navy flier testifies he flew Bush to Paris for deal to block release of hostages

A BAC 111 aircraft, which had been reconfigured to carry a sufficient amount of fuel to travel 3,600 miles, left Andrews Air Force Base in the late afternoon of October 19, 1980. The aircraft's destination: Paris, France. The Passengers aboard the aircraft included the command pilot U.S. Navy Captain Gunther Russbacher, Richard Brenneke and Heinrick Rupp, on the flight deck; and in the cabin was William Casey, soon to be the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency; Donald Greggs, soon to be the ambassador to South Korea; and George Bush, the future Vice President and President of the United States and former director of the Central Intelligence Agency. There were also Secret Service agents aboard the aircraft.

This is the weekend - three weeks before the November 1980 Presidential Election, that Bush has claimed he spent at Andrews Air Force Base.

Testifying to this flight is Russbacher, the pilot. The Navy pilot is currently at Terminal Island, a federal prison, awaiting an appeal on a charge of misuse and misappropriation of government properties, misuse of government jets, and misuse of government purchase orders for purchase of fuel. He was also a member of the Office of Naval Intelligence and worked with the Central Intelligence Agency. Russbacher's alias is Robert A. Walker. Russbacher now becomes the second crew member of that flight to testify to this clandestine episode that may have changed the politics of this nation and which has been labeled the "October Surprise". Brenneke was upheld by a Federal jury when he testified about the flight. After his testimony he was charged by the Federal Government with perjury, but a Federal jury acquitted him upholding his testimony that the flight actually took place. The trial was held in Portland, Oregon last year.

Russbacher, in an exclusive interview, states that Bush stayed at the Hotel Crillion in Paris. Russbacher has stated that more than one flight was involved, but that this was the initial flight at which time an agreement was made between Bush and Casey and the Government of Iran to delay the release of American hostages in Iran until after the November 1980 election. Former President Jimmy Carter and several Congressmen are now asking for an investigation into the "October Surprise".

According to Russbacher statements, Bush stayed only a couple of hours. He attended a meeting at the Hotel Crillion and at the Hotel George V. Russbacher, Brenneke, and Rupp stayed at the Hotel Florida. Bush did not return on the same BAC 111 aircraft or return with some of the people he had flown with to Paris, but instead Russbacher flew him back in the SR71. The aircraft was refueled about 1800 to 1900 nautical miles into the Atlantic by a KCl35.

The returning flight with Bush landed at McGuire Air Force base at approximately 2 a.m. on October 20. Russbacher states that Bush, while in Paris, met with Hashemi Rafsanjani, the second in command to the Ayatollah and now the president of Iran, and Adnan Khashoggi, a Saudi Arabian businessman who was extremely powerful. Arrangements were apparently made to pay Iran $40 million to delay the release of hostages in order to thwart President Jimmy Carter's re-election bid. The $40 million was the beginning of terms that created the Iran-Contra scandal that is now being reopened by Congress.

Russbacher is concerned for his life, but feels that the other pilots will now come forward in a new Congressional investigation. He indicates that there is a growing division within the Central Intelligence Agency. There is no one higher than the CIA, but there are groups within the company (term used by insiders for the CIA) that are very, very strong. And the group or clique that I belonged to, in my opinion, was probably the strongest but there are other factions that are at war with themselves, Russbacher states." You have these groups that are answerable to no one. Well, they are answerable to one man, on top, and he doesn't seem to care how the problems are resolved, just as long as they are taken care of." The man Russbacher is referring to is President Bush.

On the eve of an announcement of a Congressional investigation into the October Surprise, Russbacher was to have taken a helicopter trip with Navy Intelligence officers, but he did not take the trip. The helicopter carrying several Naval Intelligence officers was reported to have crashed near or on Fort Ord in California. Russbacher, who was willing to tape this interview, states that had he been on the helicopter he would be dead right now. In fact, because of that crash, Russbacher wanted this interview taped for safety reasons.

He believes that the other aircrew members are in danger, as well, but feels that they are ready to come forward and testify, as did Brenneke last year.

The growing INSLAW software theft is now reaching foreign proportions. While the U.S. House Judiciary Committee is investigating the theft of INSLAW's PROMIS software by the U.S. Justice Department, the Canadian Parliament will commence its own investigation.

Two agencies of the Canadian Government, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service (CSIS) - equivalent to the CIA - are using the pirated PROMIS software, allegedly supplied to them by Dr. Earl Brian, a close associate and financial partner of former U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese and a former California cabinet officer under then Governor Ronald Reagan.

A Federal Bankruptcy judge - who was not re-appointed to the bench after his ruling - said the U.S. Justice Department used trickery, fraud and deception in "stealing" the PROMIS software. The sophisticated software is used for tracking criminal and military activities. It was illegally sold to South Korea, Iraq, Israel, Canada and Libya by the United States.

According to an affidavit, the software was converted in a joint venture between Wackenhut Corporation of Coral Gables, Florida, and the Cabazon Band of Indians of Indio - an independent nation. The declaration by Michael J. Riconoscuito alleges that Dr. Brian was deeply involved in the joint venture. One Indian and two of his companions who objected to the joint venture - which also dealt with military weapons, biological and chemical warfare - were found murdered in execution style. That execution was reported on 20/20 by Barbara Walters and the CIA was named as the prime suspect in the case. The software was specifically modified for the Canadian government.

Riconoscuito stated in an affidavit he was warned by officials of the U.S. Justice Department that if he cooperated with the U.S.House Judiciary Committee he would be arrested. Eight days after he signed the affidavit he was arrested by more than a dozen Drug Enforcement Agency officers near Tacoma, Washington. He was held without bail for several days and then charged with a single drug count. Though arrested in the State of Washington, he was held without bail awaiting a federal marshal to pick him up.

He, along with several others, have stated in an affidavit to the court and to the U.S. House Judiciary Committee, that the PROMIS software was modified and sold to several countries, including Canada.

Late last week, Members of Parliament demanded that the Solicitor General of Canada, Pierre Cadieux, appear before a parliamentary committee to answer charges the RCMP and CSIS are using stolen computer software. Cadieux's ministry is responsible for the RCMP and CSIS.

Though both the RCMP and the CSIS originally denied they are using PROMIS, court documents show a Canadian communications department official admitted last year that the RCMP was using PROMIS, although INSLAW never authorized its Canadian sale.

"Did CSIS and the RCMP use PROMIS software or modifications of it? If so, what were the circumstances of the acquisition? Was the software stolen, and if so, was the Canadian Government aware of it?" These are the questions Parliament wants to ask Cadieux. The Canadian Solicitor has indicated that the Government is already launching its own investigation into the pirated software scandal. Canadian officials are indicating that the pirated software sales may have helped to illegally fund the Contras in Nicaragua. Contra funding and supplies was one of the most important aspects of the Cabazon-Wackenhut joint venture. Riconoscuito has had inside connections with the CIA and U.S. Justice Department and some testimony put forward states that he helped to launder $40 million for the Bush-Quayle campaign, that report has not been substantiated by any more than one government source.

Brian is the owner of a holding company which has interests in the Financial News Network, United Press International and Hadron, Inc. Hadron was the company that was unsuccessful in buying out INSLAW, Affidavits on file with the court allege that Hadron, through Reagan cronies, attempted to force INSLAW out of business after it was awarded a $10 million contract by the U.S. Justice Department.

The scandal involves Meese, Brian, former National Security Advisor Robert McFarland, several senior staff members at the U.S. Justice Department, and even federal judges. The Vancouver Sun, the leading newspaper in Western Canada, states, "The pirated software battle already has been compared to Watergate and the Iran-Contra scandal."

Conclusion of the Inslaw Series by Harry V. MartinCopyright Napa Sentinel, 1991

An Indian "uprising", government investigations by the U.S. Congress, Canadian and Australian Parliaments, international spying, software piracy, threats to witnesses, wholesale resignations at the U.S. Department of Justice, several murders, the arrest of a key witness, and the end of a long judicial career for one judge, this is the complex web of the INSLAW case that many governments are now indicating could become another Watergate.

It all began when associates of then Attorney General Edwin Meese and Dr. Earl Brian, a business associate of Meese and also a cabinet officer under Governor Ronald Reagan, attempted to buy a small computer software company called INSLAW. INSLAW had developed a highly sensitive program for tracking criminals - the software was called PROMIS. INSLAW had signed a $10 million contract with the U.S. Justice Department to develop the software under contract to them. INSLAW was not paid for the program and it was told that if it didn't sell the company it would have problems - it did. When insiders at the Justice Department blocked payments to INSLAW, those insiders included one fired employee of INSLAW and one former competitor of the firm - INSLAW was pushed into the bankruptcy courts. The Justice Department, according to evidence on file, pushed the bankruptcy court to declare INSLAW insolvent. Instead the Bankruptcy Court ruled that the Justice Department owed INSLAW $6.8 million. The judge who made the ruling was removed from the bench.

Meanwhile, Dr. Brian, according to many affidavits from intelligence officials and former CIA and Justice Department operatives, sold the PROMIS software with modifications. Brian received the assistance of the Justice Department and later the CIA in the sale of the pirated software. The conversion of the PROMIS software was done on the Indian reservation of the Cabazon Nation. John Phillip Nichols - who is an old time CIA operative linked with assassination attempts on both Fidel Castro of Cuba and Salvador Allende of Chile, held control of the Cabazon Nation through a bingo casino. He also obtained contracts with Wackenhut to manufacture night vision goggles along with chemical and biological weapons.

Materials manufactured on the Cabazon Nation reservation were shipped to the Contras. Nichols was also closely associated with Mafia connections and Jimmy Hoffa, as well. Wackenhut has close ties with the CIA and Justice Department with such illuminaries as Former CIA Director Stanfield Turner in their employ. Wackenhut has approximately 80,000 employees and runs several jails and federal prisons. They have a "small army" of their own.

When one Indian and two of his companions protested against the use of the Nation, including the illegal pirating of INSLAW's software they were murdered in execution style. According to testimony on file with the Riverside County District Attorney's Office and the state Department of Justice, three ex-Green Berets who were then Chicago firemen, were hired to do the killing. Nichols was accused of the murders. After several other murders, Nichols was convicted of attempted murder for hire. On Saturday, April 20, the Indians staged their own "uprising", and "took" back their reservation from Nichols. The Tribal Council voted him out and placed the sister of the slain Indian in charge. However, after the vote was official, the reservation was swarming with uniformed and armed Wackenhut guards.

Michael Riconoscuito, a covert CIA operative, provided an affidavit to the U.S. Congressional Judiciary Committee investigating the Justice Department's role in the pirated software. He revealed the role Nichols was playing with Cabazon Indians and how Dr. Brian was involved in the conversion of the PROMIS software. Riconoscuito stated in the affidavit that he was warned by Justice Department officials that if he testified before the Judiciary Committee or provided evidence, he would be arrested. Within eight days of his affidavit, Riconoscuito was arrested and held without bail in a Tacoma, Washington jail. Riconoscuito told the Sentinel on Friday in an exclusive interview from the Tacoma jail, that his 4-year-old son's life had been threatened and that he was facing two life sentences if he cooperated with the Congressional investigation.

Riconoscuito told the Sentinel that he would probably not testify in the INSLAW case in order to be freed from jail and protect his son's life. He did indicate, however, that he has supplied enough information to the Judicial Committee investigators to provide a host of new key witnesses to the pirating of the INSLAW software by the Justice Department. Riconoscuito is a typical example of a CIA covert operator who is not being allowed to "leave" and who has too much inside "dirt" on the illegal operations of the CIA.

Riconoscuito's affidavit, however, sparked an uproar in Canada. Riconoscuito stated in the affidavit that the Indian reservation was used to alter the PROMIS software for use by the Canadian government. A Parliamentary inquiry is being launched into why and how Canada became involved in the purchase of pirated software from the U.S. Government. The software is being used by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Canadian Intelligence Service.

In Australia, another uproar has been created over the pirated PROMIS software. There, the Government is claiming that the CIA is tapping into the computers of the Australian government. It may be possible that the "alteration" done on the software at the Indian Reservation was to install an override password, so that the CIA could tap in to foreign government's intelligence system. The pirated software has been sold to Israel, Libya, Iraq, South Korea, Canada and Australia, there may be even more nations involved in the program.

Many members of the Justice Department have left since the INSLAW matter was exposed. A U.S. Senate Committee investigated the Justice Department but gave up its investigation when the Justice Department refused to surrender any documents. The Congressional Committee has threatened the funding of the Justice Department and the records have been promised, but not yet delivered. The Justice Department sent investigators to Tacoma immediately after Riconoscuito's arrest. The Committee expressed alarm over the arrest because it was predicted right in Riconoscuito's affidavit.

The INSLAW case is only being covered by a few newspapers throughout the United States, including the St. Louis Post Dispatch, Miami Herald, Washington Post, the San Francisco Chronicle (on occasion) and the Vancouver Sun. It has not made the wire services. Dr. Brian's company owns United Press International.

Senator Albert Gore has called for a formal investigation into the "October Surprise". A one-time Democratic presidential candidate, the Tennessee senator is considering a second race for the Democratic nomination in 1992.

But at the heart of the question of any investigation is: who would be the witnesses? The Sentinel has published a 13-part series on the allegation that George Bush and his Republican colleagues made a deal with Iran to delay the release of 52 American hostages in 1980.

As more and more attention is focused on the issue, little attention has focused on who would be the witnesses and what happened to many of them.

CYRUS HASHEMI, an arms dealer, was approached by William Casey to set up the meetings with the Republicans and Iranians. He reported the contact to the CIA and died shortly after that.

JOHN TOWER, a U.S. Senator who was deeply involved in the process through his then aide Robert McFarlane. Tower was the chief investigator in the Iran-Contra scandal. He died in a plane crash recently.

ALAN MICHAEL MAY, who managed the funds for Richard Nixon's Committee to Re-elect the President. May allegedly transferred $40 million from a Mexican bank to various U.S. banks to Luxembourg as a "down payment" for the delay of the hostages. His name came up for the first time in the Napa Sentinel last week and he died of a heart attack this weekend at age 50. May had indicated a short time before he died that he feared for his life.

U.S. SUPREME COURT JUSTICE POTTER STEWART, who Bush claims had lunch with him during the missing hours in October 1980, is now dead.

WILLIAM CASEY, the former head of the CIA and principle negotiator in the alleged hostage delay, died on the eve of the Iran-Contra hearings.

HEINRICH RUPP, the man who allegedly flew Casey back from Paris and a long-term CIA operative, was sentenced to jail for 40 years in a CIA bank scandal. His sentence was reduced to two years.

RICHARD BRENNEKE, who also claims he was a pilot involved in the October Surprise and a long time arms dealer for the CIA, went to Rupp's defense and was charged with five counts of perjury. He was acquitted, but has recently changed his story saying he did not fly over in the BAC-111. He claims he flew Pan Am to Paris and flew part of the Paris party back to the United States.

GUNTHER RUSSBACHER, who claims he was the command pilot that flew George Bush to Paris in October 1980 and a long-time Naval Intelligence and CIA operative, is finishing a short term in federal prison on charges he impersonated a U.S. attorney.

MICHAEL RICONOSCIUTO, who was allegedly the man who finalized the money transfers for the deal in Paris and also a long time CIA operative, is being held without bail in a federal prison in Missouri pending a trial in the State of Washington for drug manufacturing. Riconoscuito had warned the media and Congress that he would be arrested if he testified in the INSLAW case. He provided testimony and was arrested within a week.

DONALD GREGG, who was a principle in the alleged meetings with the Iranians and former high official in the CIA, is now Ambassador to South Korea. Gregg's testimony in Brenneke's trial was rejected by a federal jury. Gregg is also supposed to be indicted by a U.S. Federal Grand Jury in Washington, D.C., soon on charges of perjury. Former President Jimmy Carter said that Gregg was the mole in the White House.

ROBERT GATES, implicated by Russbacher as having been involved in the deal, is seeking confirmation from the U.S. Senate as the new CIA director.

DR. EARL BRIAN, said to have been the liasion in setting up the preliminary meetings between the Republicans and the Iranians, has enjoyed extensive contracts with the U.S. government, including involvement in the INSLAW case in which he is alleged to have illegally sold INSLAW's PROMIS software to Israel, Libya, Iraq, Canada, Australia and South Korea. The INSLAW case is currently under investigation.

ARI BEN-MENASHE, an Israeli Mossad agent, has testified to the meetings in Paris and the Israeli role as an arms conduit. The Israeli Mossad is known for its disinformation, and thus Ben-Menashe may not be considered a reliable witness.

RICHARD ALLEN, head of Ronald Reagan's National Security Council, was allegedly instrumental in the deal. Allen has already been nationally discredited.

GEORGE BUSH, President of the United States and former head of the CIA, denies any involvement.

RONALD REAGAN doesn't recall. He also couldn't recall being at any Iran-Contra discussions.

MRS. JUSTICE STEWART POTTER, who was supposed to be having lunch with her husband and Bush at the time of the Paris meeting, does not recall the luncheon, but says she can't recall yesterday, either.

It isn't going to be easy for the Senate investigators. But there are a lot more permanent items on the paper trail that might break the case wide open.

Death of a Journalist by Harry V. Martin Copyright, Napa Sentinel, 1991

Journalist Danny Casolaro had a tenacious, bull-dog approach to investigative journalism. He would research his subject and then have a face-to-face confrontation with that subject. There were no holds barred. That style of journalism may have cost him his life. Casolaro is one of many journalists, attorneys and investigators who have perished in their search for the truth about this nation, about clandestine government operations, private arms, drug dealers and the CIA.

Casolaro was found dead in a West Virginia hotel room. His wrists had been slashed 10 times. He was not only ruled a suicide, but his body was embalmed and buried before his family was even notified. But was it suicide? Too many deaths, too many suspicious circumstances lay challenge to that pronunciation. But this article is not about Danny's death, it is about his life. The Sentinel has received exclusive inside information on what Danny was doing before he died, who and what he was investigating and where he was receiving his information from.

Danny was writing a book - a book that would blow the socks off Washington. It began to connect the Bank of Credit and Commerce (BCCI) scandal with INSLAW, the Iran-Contra deals, Israeli-U.S. secret arrangements, misuse of Indian tribes, drug trafficking and murder all into one neat and sordid package. Before his death he thought he had cracked all the necessary mysteries to link what he called the Octopus of the American government.

Danny, at one time, worked with Jack Anderson, a nationally acclaimed Washington columnist. One of his key contacts was Alan D. Standorf. According to Danny, Standorf was a key supplier of documents that exposed the giant government scandal in banking, intelligence and underworld ties. Standorf was working in a very sensitive and secret communication center for the U.S. government. He could listen in or intercept message traffic from the intelligence community. Standorf supplied volumes of secret documents to Danny. High speed Xerox commercial duplicating and collating machinery was set up in the Hilton Hotel in room 900, to provide Danny copies of all documents and allow Standorf time to place the documents back in their original files. But then Danny lost his source; Standorf was found dead at Washington, D.C.'s National Airport - he died of a blow to the head. His body was found on the back floor of his car, under a pile of luggage and personal items.

Danny also had contact with Dennis Eisman and Michael Riconoscuito. Eisman, who was to represent Riconoscuito in a criminal trial, was in contact with Danny on a frequent basis. Riconoscuito is a key witness in the INSIAW case and on the October Surprise investigation, as well as Iran-Contra. Riconoscuito apparently was the key electronics man for the U.S. intelligence community. He was arrested eight days after providing Congress with testimony in the INSLAW case. Eisman is now dead with a single bullet wound to the chest; they say it was suicide, as well. Eisman was to have picked up critical information at a parking lot the day he was shot. That information was destined for Danny and Riconoscuito; but it never came to be.

Danny called the INSLAW case the Òfrosting on the cakeÓ of his investigation. He claimed to know all the Washington players in the Octopus; from the White House and Justice Departnent, right down to the intelligence community and mob ties. He was investigating the following individuals and companies at the time of his death:

along with loan sharks, Mafia and mob ties, and links between the deaths of Indians and journalist Don Boyles, who was killed in a car explosion in Arizona many years ago. Danny was also examining the gold-platinum smuggling that came from Southeast Asia through Mexico and then through the Papago Indian reservation in New Mexico. He fingered a corridor between Mexico and New Mexico which was allowed to be opened and which the Drug Enforcement Agency refused to patrol. He was also looking at gold shipments from the Republic of South Vietnam.

According to an inside informant, Danny was threatened by a man who controls the Indian tribes. ÒNow that you know this stuff you will have to die,Ó Danny reported was the threat. He was also concerned with the IBM-Tel Aviv connection which could link the use of lNSLAW's PROMIS software to Israeli intelligence.

Danny was in contact with Bill Hamilton of INSLAW, and was scheduled to meet with Videnieks and Brian about the time he died. He had six file folders with him at all times. Just before his alleged meeting, he brought the folders home. In a search of his house, no documents were reported found. Those documents were seldom left behind by Danny.

Danny had conversations with Allan Michael May, a former Nixon campaign financial aide, who is alleged to have wired $40 million to the Iranians in October 1980 as a down payment on the hostage

deal. May died in San Francisco four days after the Napa Sentinel reported his connections to the October Surprise. At first officials said he died of a heart attack, but the autopsy report was changed to reflect May had polypharmacuticals in his system. Danny was also working with Anson Ng of the Financial Times of London. Both were zeroing in on the Cabazon Indians-Inslaw-Iran-Contra links.Ng was found dead in Guatemala with a single bullet wound in his chest. Like Eisman, like Danny, the verdict was suicide.

Peter Zokosky had close liaison with Danny. Zokosky had direct dealings with the Cabazon Indians at the time the INSLAW software was being converted for Canadian intelligence and also knew about the manufacturing of chemical and biological weapons for the Contras, through the auspices of the Wackenhut Corporation and the Nichols family.

But some of Danny's documents will show such things as a bank in New England which has $400 million in phony bearerbonds - used for collateral because the bank's money has been siphoned off. Another will show multi-million dollar loans based on only thousands of dollars of collaterial by another bank used to finance drug deals. Danny's Octopus was too large and in the end it ate him up...his records and his life forfeit.

* Certain high level U.S. Department of Justice officials and private individuals may have violated 12 different criminal laws, states a recently released report from Congress. Those crimes may include:

* Conspiracy to commit an offense.

* Officer of employee of the United States converting the property of another.

* Fraud.

* Wire fraud.

* Obstruction of proceedings before departments, agencies and committees.

* Tampering with a witness.

* Retaliation against a witness.

* Perjury.

* Interference with commerce by threats or violence.

* Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations.

* Transportation of stolen goods, securities, moneys.

* Receiving stolen goods.

These charges come from the U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary, chaired by Congressman Jack Brooks of Texas. The persons who the Committee indicates may have violated so many laws include:

* Former Attorney General Edwin Meese.

* U.S. Federal Judge Lowell Jensen (San Francisco).

* Former California Secretary of Health (in the Reagan governorship) Dr. Earl Bryan. (Bryan was also owner of United Press International.)

The Committee report was released on September 10 involves the INSLAW case The main media has remained silent about the final report, which many consider to be bigger than Watergate. A special Grand Jury in Chicago has been impaneled to investigate the issue.

In March 1991, the Napa Sentinel was the first media on the West Coast to break the INSLAW story and conducted a thorough investigation of the case. At that time only the St. Louis Post Dispatch and the Washington Times carried articles on the case. The Congressional report parallels all the information the Sentinel published one-and-one-half years ago.

The case involves the misappropriation of sensitive computer software used to track criminal records and the witness protection program. The Justice Department was accused of "stealing" the software and selling it to various foreign countries including South Korea, Canada, Iraq, Israel and Australia.

The report documents allegations "that high level officials at the Department of Justice conspired to drive INSLAW into insolvency and steal the PROMIS software so it could be used by Dr. Earl Brian, a former associate and friend of then Attorney General Edwin Meese. Dr. Brian is a businessman and entrepreneur who owns or controls several businesses including Hadron, Inc., which has contracts with the Justice Department, CIA, and other agencies."

A Federal Judge ruled that the Department of Justice "acted willfully and fraudulently" and "took, converted and stole" INSLAW's Enhanced PROMIS by "trickery, fraud and deceit." The Judge who made that ruling was removed from the Bench under pressure from the Justice Department.

The Congressional report adds, "Suspicions of a Department of Justice conspiracy to steal INSLAW's PROMIS were fueled when Danny Casolaro, an investigative writer inquiring into those issues, was found dead in a hotel room in Martinsburg, West Virginia, where he was to meet a source that he claimed was critical to his investigation. Mr. Casolaro's body was found on August 10, 1991, with his wrists slashed numerous times. Following a brief preliminary investigation by local authorities, Mr. Casolaro's death was ruled a suicide." The Brook's Committee sought more detail on Casolaro's death from the FBI and two former Federal Organized Crime Strike Force prosecutors in Los Angeles who had information bearing on the Casolaro case.

FBI Special Agent Thomas Gates stated this year to the Committee that Casolaro claimed he had found a link between the INSLAW matter, the activities taking place at the Cabazon Indian Reservation, and a Federal investigation in which Special Agents Gates had been involved regarding organized crime influence in the entertainment industry. "Special Agent Gates stated that Mr. Casolaro had several conversations with Mr. Robert Booth Nichols in the weeks preceding his death. Mr. Nichols, according to documents submitted to a Federal court by the FBI, has ties with organized crime and the world of covert intelligence operations. When he learned of Mr. Casolaro's death, Special Agent Gates contacted the Martinsburg Police Department to inform them of the information he had concerning Mr. Nichols and Mr. Casolaro," the report states. "Based on the evidence collected by the committee, it appears that the path followed by Danny Casolaro in pursuing his investigation into the INSLAW matter brought him in contact with a number of dangerous individuals associated with organized crime and the world of covert intelligence operations. The suspicious circumstances surrounding his death had led some law enforcement professionals and others to believe that his death may not have been suicide. As long s the possibility exists that Danny Casolaro died as a result of his investigation into the INSLAW matter, it is imperative that further investigation be conducted."

The Committee admits that the Justice Department was uncooperative in the investigation, including the possible destruction of missing documents key to the investigation.

The Sentinel series of articles paralleled the investigation of Casolaro, from the Cabazon Indian reservation's manufacturing of weapons for the Contras and the conversion of the PROMIS software and the murder of an Indian leader, to the Nichols' families ties to organized crime, the Bryan connection and the cover-ups. One of the many key sources the Sentinel used was Michael Riconosciuto, the same major source used by Casolaro. When Riconosciuto volunteered to testify before the Congressional Committee he warned that the Justice Department would arrest him. One week after his affidavit to Congressman Brooks Riconosciuto was arrested and has been in jail ever since.

Riconosciuto is currently in Chicago testifying to the special Grand Jury on the INSLAW case.

The Congressional Committee states in its findings:

* The Department ignored INSLAW's data rights to its enhanced version of its PROMIS software and misused its prosecutorial and litigative resources to legitimatize and coverup its misdeeds.

* Several witnesses, including former Attorney General Elliot Richardson, have provided testimony, sworn statements or affidavits linking high level Department officials to a conspiracy to steal INSLAW'S PROMIS software and secretly transfer PROMIS to Dr. Brian.

* The reviews of the INSLAW matter by Congress were hampered by Department tactics designed to conceal many significant documents and otherwise interfere with an independent review.

* The Justice Department continues to improperly use INSLAW's proprietary software in blatant disregard of the findings of two courts and well established property law.

* Further investigation into the circumstances surrounding Daniel Casolaro's death is needed.

* Several key documents subpoenaed by the committee on July 25, 1991, were reported missing or lost by the Department. It was impossible to ascertain how many documents or files were missing because the Department did not have a complete index of the INSLAW material. The Department failed to conduct a formal investigation to determine whether the subpoenaed documents were stolen or "illegally destroyed".

The Congressional report totally supports the lengthy series the Sentinel commenced to publish in March 1991. In fact, no aspect of the Congressional report was overlooked in the Sentinel series, including suspicion about the death of Casolaro, and many areas not covered in the report were in the newspaper series.

EDITOR'S NOTE: When discussing the widespread corruption in the federal Bankruptcy Courts, it is difficult to focus on just the Northern California jurisdiction. This new series will focus on the extent of the corruption throughout the nation and its linkage to various courts.

When the U.S. Government sent Anthony Souza to Northern California to investigate what government officials called "the dirtiest system" in the United States, it was aware that the entire bankruptcy system is unraveling. Former LendVest Trustee Charles Duck was the main focal point of Souza's investigation-even though a local bankruptcy judge called him the most "honest man" he had ever known. Duck's ties to bankruptcy judges throughout the Bay Area is providing a picture of intense corruption going deep inside the law enforcement agencies. Even Souza admits privately that his hands are tied.

There has been one known murder in Northern California that has strong possible links to the bankruptcy system. There have been several more in Texas. This series will focus on different incidents from various parts of the country.

One of the most bizarre cases of corruption in the bankruptcy system involves a small Washington-based computer software firm called INSLAW. In 1982 the firm signed a three year contract for $10 million with the U.S. Department of Justice. The software program INSLAW developed was a case-management computer program called PROMIS. The software, which was developed by Bill Hamilton, enabled the U.S. attorneys to keep track of information on cases, witnesses and defendants, and to manage their caseloads more effectively.

Though the U.S. Attorney's Office placed the PROMIS program into operation in several of its offices, it refused to pay Hamilton. Subsequently Hamilton was forced into the bankruptcy court. Former U.S. Attorney General Elliot Richardson, representing Hamilton, advised him to sue the Justice Department for stealing his software.

Anthony Pasciuto, who was the deputy director of the Executive Office for U.S. Trustees, which oversees bankruptcy estates on behalf of the court, had stated that the Justice Department was improperly applying pressure on his office to convert INSLAW's Chapter 11 reorganization into a Chapter 7 liquidation, which would mean that all company assets, including the rights to PROMIS would be sold at auction.

U.S. Trustee Cornelius Blackshear corroborated Pasciuto's story. Two days after he was visited by Justice Department officials, Blackshear issued a sworn affidavit recanting his earlier testimony.

The Justice Department recommended that Pasciuto be fired. The memo seeking his dismissal reads "But for Mr. Pasciuto's highly irresponsible actions, the Department would be in a much better litigation posture than it presently finds itself."

Federal Bankruptcy Judge George F. Bason, Jr., ruled in 1987 that the Justice Department had acted illegally in trying to put INSLAW out of business. Bason sent Edwin Meese a letter recommending that he designate an appropriate outside official to review the dispute because of the prima facie evidence of perjury by Justice Department officials, Meese did not respond.

Later that year after nearly three weeks of trial, Bason ruled in favor of INSLAW in its suit against the Justice Department. "The department (of Justice) took, converted, stole INSLAW's software by trickery, fraud and deceit," the judge stated, adding, "the Justice Department engaged in an outrageous, deceitful, fraudulent game of cat and mouse, demonstrating contempt for both the law and any principle of fair dealing." Judge Bason ordered the Justice Department to pay INSLAW $6.8 million. Bason's verdict was upheld on appeal by U.S. District Court Judge William B. Bryant. Three months after Bason's ruling, he was denied re-appointment to the bankruptcy court.

Hamilton's trouble began when a friend of Meese attempted to buy out INSLAW, but Hamilton turned him down. In a court document, the potential buyer is quoted as saying, "We have ways of making you sell." It was after that the trouble for INSLAW began.

The Senate Permanent Subcommittee on investigations, chaired by Senator Sam Nunn, began an investigation into the INSLAW case. Once the inquiry got under way, the Senate Judiciary Committee's chief investigator, Ronald LeGrand, received a phone call from an unnamed senior officer at the Justice Department, a person LeGrand has known for years. The caller told LeGrand that the "INSLAW case was a lot dirtier for the Department of Justice than Watergate had been, both in its breadth and its depth."

The Nunn Committee completed its investigation and published its report. It recognized that INSLAW has been a victim of the system and stated that "the Justice Department had been uncooperative, refusing to allow witnesses to testify without representatives of the litigation division being present to advise them. The effect of their presence was to intimidate those who might otherwise have cooperated with the investigation." The report states, "The staff learned through various channels of a number of Department employees who desired to speak to the Subcommittee, but who chose not to out of fear for their jobs."

Congressman Jack Brooks of Texas has opened a new investigation into the INSLAW case. Brooks is investigating allegations that Justice Department officials, including Meese, conspired to force INSLAW into bankruptcy in order to deliver the firm's software to a rival company. The rival firm, according to court records and law enforcement officials, was headed by Earl W. Brian, a former Cabinet officer under then California Governor Ronald Reagan and a longtime friend of several high-ranking Republican officials. Meese had accepted a $15,000 interest-free loan from Brian. Meese's wife was an investor in the rival company. This is the same company that allegedly sought to buy INSLAW from Hamilton and made the alleged threat.

What happened to PROMIS?

* The program is in use throughout the nation and has been used also for military intelligence information. It has the ability to track troop movements.

* An official of the Israeli government claims Brian sold the PROMIS program to Iraqi military intelligence at a meeting in Santiago, Chile. The software could have been used in the recent Persian Gulf War to track U.S. and allied troop movements. Ari Ben-Menashe, a 12 year veteran of Israeli intelligence, made the statement in a sworn affidavit to the court.

* The software is now operative with the CIA, the National Security Agency, the Defense Intelligence Agency, and the U.S. Department of Justice. Only the Justice Department is authorized by the court to use the software.

* Brian now claims he acquired the property rights to the software and consummated a sale to Israel, although he had allowed its use by the Israeli intelligence forces for as many as five years before the actual sale.

In essence, a small company in Washington developed a very sensitive computer program which the Justice Department obtained. The courts ruled in favor of the developer and the judge who made the ruling was never re-appointed. The software was acquired by a friend of Meese and the Justice Department has never paid for its use and has allowed other agencies the right of its use.

The bankruptcy court was a tool, as it appears to be with other jurisdictions, to support the economic gain of a few. Charles Duck was not alone, as the record will prove.

French Connection, The Smoking Gun by Harry V. MartinSixth in a SeriesCopyright, Napa Sentinel, 1991

If Bush went to Paris, the French and U.S. have documents to prove it

If there is a smoking gun in the allegations that George Bush flew to Paris in October 1980 to arrange for the delay of the release of 52 American hostages, it will be found in a file cabinet in the French SDECE office, or in secure U.S. government computers.

While Bush was allegedly in Paris, the French intelligence service (SDECE) was asked to make certain the Vice Presidential candidate was not seen. French security succeeded in that task and wrote a routine memo on the incident. A man who spent 18-years in the U.S. intelligence service has testified that he actually saw that memo in December 1980 in the files of the C.I.A. The file of the Paris meeting was given to the CIA on November 18, 1980. The agent testifies that Bush had to meet with three different factions of the Iranian revolution. The meeting took place at the Rafael Hotel. The agent not only names Bush, but also William Casey, Donald Gregg and Richard Allen as participants. Bush did not attend the first meeting, only the second.

Afraid that Bush would be recognized by the French press, his aircraft landed at the military part of Orlee. He was whisked away in a closed car and brought directly to the Rafael Hotel. He was there for about two hours, the agent states. This agent has the highest CIA clearance and worked the entire time in the Directorate of Operations in the CIA and was with the Agency since 1965. The agent also testified that the $40 million the Iranians received as a "down payment" in the deal was actually funds left over from a $60 million illegal contribution to the Committee to Reelect the President (Richard Nixon's 1972 reelection campaign) from the Shah of Iran.

In a taped interview, to be released by the Napa Sentinel to KING Radio in Seattle, the agent states that Bush was "out of the loop" from midnight, October 18, 1980 to 5 p.m., October 19. He states that Bush was in a meeting with Hashemi Rafsanjani, representatives of the Ayatollah Behisti, and Javad Bahonar. A key figure was also there for the French SDECE, Robert Benes, the son of Czech President Edward Benes who died in 1948 when the Communists took over his country.

The agent further testifies that Maurice Stans obtained the funds from Mexico. After November 20, 1980. Col. Alexandre de Marenches, head of the SDECE met with President-elect Ronald Reagan in California and presented the Paris meeting report to him. He did not visit President Jimmy Carter. The French intelligence chief warned Reagan not to trust the CIA.

The U.S. agent said Bush and the CIA go back to 1959 and 1960. A memo from FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover was sent in 1963 to CIA agent George Bush addressing the assassination of John F. Kennedy and the possible reaction of Cubans in Miami who might have believed Fidel Castro was responsible for the plot.

But that is not the only smoking gun that could prove the Bush trip to Paris, a trip that he denies. The computers in Washington have codes buried in them, codes that would identify the Bush-Paris activity. In fact, using the right code name and code number, a complete history of the trip, the manifest of the aircraft and other details, including briefing notes, would emerge. According to three separate CIA sources, the operation was conducted in three stages and had three codes:

Part One was Magdelen.

Part Two was Maggellan.

Part Three was Michaelangelo.

Each has a separate code access. The Maggellan access code is reported to be 0221-001-666. Some of the records can be found at Quantico and others at Andrews Air Force Base. The source of this later information could not be double checked.

Navy Captain Gunther Russbacher, who has been verified by several separate agency members and intelligence sources, claims he flew Bush to Paris in a aircraft owned by the Saudi Royal Family, the aircraft was a reconfigured BAC-111, which refueled in Newfoundland. Russbacher's credibility has been a see-saw for awhile because much of his files are missing, and like many agents has a strange and sometimes silent past. Russbacher, is currently serving a short sentence in Terminal Island for allegedly impersonating a U.S. Attorney. The U.S. Defenders Office indicates that the information published about Russbacher is "on the right track". Others have confirmed the same thing.

But the Sentinel has not been totally satisfied with the complete testimony of Russbacher and has pressed other sources and Russbacher, himself, for more detail. Records will now prove that Russbacher is the cousin of Richard Brennecke, who was acquitted of perjury by a federal jury. He was charged with perjury when he testified that Bush went to Paris. Brennecke originally denied knowing Russbacher, but now admits he knows him. They virtually grew up in Nevada together after their families secretly left Austria after World War II and were recruited by U.S. intelligence. Russbacher identified Brennecke as a member of the flight crew.

One of the difficulties in tracing the steps of CIA agents is the smoke screen, disinformation and attacks on their credibility. The Sentinel has learned that Russbacher escaped from a U.S. Federal Prison in Secoville, Texas in 1975. On national radio, Russbacher openly admitted the escape and said he was placed on the escape list and spent 10 years in Europe and the United States, working with the CIA. The fact that he has been in the United States and the focus of public attention, he has never been rearrested for the escape. But sources very high up in the intelligence community verify his authenticity.

After receiving information from other sources and pressing Russbacher, he has confirmed the reports of other intelligence officials that Robert Gates was also on the aircraft that flew Bush to Paris. "Gates had a strong hand in it," Russbacher finally admitted. Russbacher, who did not originally seek publicity on this case, was very reluctant to bring in Gates' name. Gates has just been appointed by President Bush to head the CIA and is facing Senate confirmation. Intelligence sources indicate that Russbacher is a key figure in CIA financial matters.

The smoking guns are out there, it is a question of whether they will be found or destroyed. The French have a bitter hatred for the CIA and it is plausible they might use the French report to blackmail the President, especially on matters related to the new European Community and Common Market.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Because some of this information has been verbal or on tape, the Sentinel cannot attest to the complete accuracy in the spelling of some names.